This invention concerns a device for driving a vibration actuator in portable electronic equipment that has a vibration actuator such as a small vibrating motor, a speaker-type vibration device or a plunger-type drive device, with a battery as the source of drive power.
In the past, small pagers (xe2x80x9cPocket Bellsxe2x80x9d) and portable telephones have had internal pager vibrators as a means of call notification in conferences, hospitals and other locations where it is inappropriate to send an audible alarm. If the vibration mode is switched on in advance, the vibrator is driven instead of an alarm being sounded when a call comes in, and the recipient is made aware of the call by means of the vibration. A small motor is generally used in such vibrators, with an eccentric weight attached to the shaft of the motor such that a vibration it generated when the battery-driven motor is caused to rotate.
In the past, small drive motors that could rotate on a low voltage were developed for this purpose, but size 3 or 4 single dry cells or rechargeable cells are generally used as pager batteries, and the voltage is 1.2 V to 1.5 V at most. For that reason, it is difficult to initiate the motor vibration and sometimes the motor does not rotate even though power is applied.
For that reason, consideration has been given to the method of using a high-voltage power supply to initiate the rotation of a low-voltage motor, and continuing to drive the motor with a low-voltage power supply once rotation is initiated. However, there is the problem that as the battery is used up, it becomes difficult to drive the rotation at the lower battery voltage, and an adequate vibration force is not available. The recent trend, especially, has required vibration motors with extremely small diameters, and as miniaturization has progressed and the inertia of the eccentric weights has been reduced, it has become easier to initiate rotation, but because of the low inertia, it has not been possible to obtain much vibration force with the low battery voltage drive.
Moreover, it is primarily small motors that have been used as vibration actuators in the past. In addition, portable electronic equipment has been expected to become smaller and lighter, and motors have been approaching the limits of miniaturization. As shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,528,97 which does not use a small motor, consideration has been given to speaker-type vibration devices that can be used for vibration alarm, buzzer alarm or tone alarm with the vibration motor and speaker functions combined in a single device.
This sort of speaker vibration device for small, portable equipment has the problem that the low power-consumption current that is limited for the sake of portability does not provide adequate vibration for low-frequency vibration.
The purpose of this invention is to resolve the defects described above and to provide a low-power vibration actuator drive device in which the vibration is easily noticed because a continuous, intermittent or discontinuous signal is received rather than a regular signal when a call is received, and that vibrates noticeably even though it is small and thin.
This invention is portable device that drives a vibration actuator by means of a battery drive, in which there is a step-up circuit that transforms the voltage of an internal battery to a high voltage, a rectifier circuit that rectifies the high voltage and charges a charging condenser, a power supply circuit that feeds the charge in the charging condenser to the vibration actuator, a switching means that alternates between the operation of charging the charging condenser and the operation of feeding the charge to the vibration condenser, and a pulse generation circuit that provides power to a vibration actuator intermittently, such that stepped up direct current or alternating current voltage is impressed on the vibration actuator with short interruptions.
Using the vibration actuator drive device of this invention, the battery which is the original source of power has a low voltage, but it is stepped up to a high voltage by the step-up circuit and stored in the charging condenser, and so by feeding pulses from the charging condenser to the vibration actuator for a short time, a small vibration motor can be driven at the same high rotation rate as a high-voltage drive even though it uses the low power of a low-voltage battery drive, and so a large vibration force can be obtained. In addition, because it is possible to drive a small vibration motor intermittently with pulse drive, it is possible to generate various modes of vibration by varying the pulse rate, and the vibration can be noticed easily.
The vibration actuator drive device of this invention is a portable device that drives a vibration actuator by means of a battery drive, in which there is a power supply circuit that has a step-up circuit that transforms the voltage of an internal battery to a high voltage and a pulse generation circuit that provides power to a vibration actuator intermittently, and in which the stepped up direct current or alternating current voltage is impressed on the vibration actuator with short interruptions.
The vibration actuator drive device of this invention is a portable device that drives a vibration actuator by means of a battery drive, in which there is a power supply circuit that has a step-up circuit that transforms the voltage of an internal battery to a high voltage and a pulse generation circuit that provides power to a vibration actuator intermittently, and in which the duty cycle of the impressed pulses is controlled so that the stepped up direct current voltage impressed on the vibration actuator with short interruptions is impressed only when the output power of the vibration actuator is at its maximum.
Using the vibration actuator drive device of this invention, the battery that is the original power source has a low voltage, but the step-up circuit steps it up to a high voltage, and so even if there is little power in the low-voltage battery drive, it is possible to drive a small vibration actuator with the same high rate of rotation as a high-voltage drive, and thus great vibration power can be obtained.
Moreover, because of the pulse drive, it is possible to drive a small vibration actuator intermittently, and so by varying the pulse interval, it is possible to generate different modes of vibration and the vibration can be noticed easily. In addition, the pulse drive reduces power consumption.
Using the vibration actuator drive device of this invention, the duty cycle of the impressed pulses is controlled so that the stepped up direct current voltage impressed on the vibration actuator with short interruptions is impressed only when the output power of the vibration actuator is at its maximum, and so maximum power can be obtained efficiently.
The vibration actuator drive device of this invention is a portable device that drives a vibration actuator by means of a battery drive, in which there is a power supply circuit that has a step-up circuit that transforms the voltage of an internal battery to a high voltage, a pulse generation circuit that outputs signals to provide power to a vibration actuator continuously, intermittently or discontinuously, and a forward/reverse rotation circuit, and in which the stepped up direct current or alternating current voltage is impressed on the vibration actuator continuously, intermittently or discontinuously.
The vibration actuator drive device of this invention has a power supply circuit that has a step-up circuit that transforms the voltage of an internal battery to a high voltage, a pulse generation circuit that outputs signals to provide power to a vibration actuator continuously, intermittently or discontinuously, and a forward/reverse rotation circuit, and is constituted so that by controlling the width of the impressed pulses and impressing signals of differing pulse widths on the forward/reverse rotation circuit, the vibration actuator cyclically generates signals of various modes.
Using the vibration actuator drive device of this invention, the battery that is the original power source has a low voltage, but the step-up circuit steps it up to a high voltage, and so even if there is little power in the low-voltage battery drive, it is possible to drive a small vibration actuator with the same high rate of rotation as a high-voltage drive, and thus great vibration power can be obtained, besides which the stepped up direct current or alternating current voltage is impressed on the vibration actuator continuously, intermittently or discontinuously so that it is possible to ring in different vibration modes and produce Morse signals by means of the vibration.
It is also possible to drive, as the vibration actuator, an actuator that requires switching such as a speaker-type vibration device or a plunger-type vibration device, instead of a small vibration motor.
Using the vibration actuator drive device of this invention, the duty cycle of the impressed pulses is controlled so that the stepped up direct current voltage impressed on the vibration actuator with short interruptions is impressed only when the output power of the vibration actuator is at its maximum, and so maximum power can be obtained efficiently.
The vibration actuator drive device of this invention is a portable device that drives a speaker-type vibration device by means of a low-frequency signal, in which there is a low-frequency oscillator circuit that feeds signals to the speaker-type vibration device continuously, intermittently or discontinuously, such that the low-frequency signals are impressed on the speaker-type vibration device continuously, intermittently or discontinuously.
The vibration actuator drive device of this invention is a portable device that drives a speaker-type vibration device with a low-frequency oscillator circuit that outputs signals to the speaker-type vibration device continuously, intermittently or discontinuously, constituted such that the width of the impressed signals is controlled and the speaker-type vibration device is caused to generate signals in various modes cyclically, by means of impressing signals of differing signal widths upon it.
Using the vibration actuator drive device of this invention, the low-frequency signals are impressed on the speaker-type vibration device continuously, intermittently or discontinuously, and so it is possible to ring in various vibration modes, such that the vibration is noticed more easily than in the case of continuous vibration, and current consumption is reduced.
Using the vibration actuator drive device of this invention, the duty cycle of the impressed signals is controlled so that they are impressed only when the output power of the speaker-type vibration device is at its maximum, and so maximum power can be obtained efficiently. Moreover, even when current consumption is the same as under conventional technology, the intermittent drive makes it possible to impress voltage higher than the rated value, and so greater vibration force is available.